a view informed by the problems of traditional literacy in a digital age

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Downloaded by [University of Gent] at 06:46 09 December 2011 RECONSTRUCTING LANGUAGE TEACHING The importance of creating networks is essential for creating a joint practice in the complex process of learning to become a teacher. The focus indeed is on communication in networks, and also communication about research. But the problems are not only theoretical; they can be very practical in nature: participants are spread over different time zones and different areas, there are problems with physical contact (owing to constraints with budget, time, space …). Information technology can solve only part of these problems. During our project we were confronted with the problems of creating such a community. How will these discourse communities change our understanding of ‘becoming a teacher’? Especially when the new networks of teachers-as-researchers are constructed on-line. Such networks and the concept of teachers-as-researchers are also essential to the study of the impact of technology: Little is known about the impact of technology on standards of students’ work, on the quality of the learning experience, on the acquisition of core transferable skills or on the changing role of students, teachers and other staff. Such research does not necessarily have to be large-scale and quantitative; small-scale, qualitative action-research projects could guide practice at the local level, thus strengthening claims of educational institutions to be fully learning organisations. (Lewis & Merton, 1996) We need joint practice and examples of good practice demonstrating the way in which computers can be integrated into the professional life of newcomers to teaching. Teacher as Designer. Technology today ‘creates an impetus for major transformation in the institution of schooling, and it also offers new tools for carrying out this transformation in ways not possible before’ (Office of Technology Assessment, 1995, p. 4). New sites of education resemble the ‘workplaces’ of the ancient guild system. There is a growing consensus that teachers should be computerliterate: ‘The Information Society so highly praised by the EU (European Union) Delors White Paper must be completed and matched by a Learning Society, if we do not want to fall into an over-informed world and a valueless culture based on ‘zapping’ and ‘patchwork’ superficiality’ (Richardson, 1997, p. 29). This competence is essential as the teacher of the future has to consider what kind of communication serves the teaching and learning. What should teachers know about computers? Teachers should be familiar with ICT and be able to utilise and integrate it in their practice. Inevitably, their practice will have to be reoriented and evaluated as an ongoing and ever-changing practice. Apart from learning to use the computer, teachers should be thinking about how the computer can be 143
Downloaded by [University of Gent] at 06:46 09 December 2011 Ronald Soetaert & Bart Bonamie integrated in their subject and their area of expertise as a tool for organising and delivering course content and their own professional development. As consumers, they should be critical of products and institutions that market themselves as legitimate providers of education. At the same time, teachers should become producers too; they will be involved in developing material. This in an inevitable process; in the long run textbooks will change. More and more they will be applied to a growing variety of functions and they will be transformed into digital environments. The shift away from textbooks as ink-on-paper products redefines the work of publishers, authors and … teachers. Design has become a central issue in education. And in design educational aspects have become a central concern. Conclusion We need a meaningful vision for culture and education in these transformational years, as we struggle to establish new forms of language and culture with new technologies. Such a vision should be inspired by the recognition that our traditions are forced into a new context. By bringing all these ‘post’ perspectives together and by questioning or problematising them, we hope that we have illustrated how the digital revolution has deeply influenced the subjects that we are teaching, and the roles that teachers can play in new teaching and learning environments. A cultural perspective on this paradigm shift seems essential, inspired by cultural studies, media studies and discourse analysis. In these disciplines, the concept of literacy is deconstructed to an extent that we are now invited to construct new educational practice. We suggest that all teachers – and language teachers in particular – should reflect on the ways in which tools change our cultural space. Within this approach, there would be a need to develop a critical sense of the form of ‘media literacy’ (O’Sullivan, 1999). This would educate learners to resist the surface messages from today’s new media. It would also enable them to be able to use all types of media effectively themselves in a variety of cultural contexts, including contexts of their own making. Our approach to language teaching today is inspired by a single question: are we only going to use the Internet to teach culture in a traditional way, or can we capitalise on its potential to give students access to new kinds of culture(s)? Acknowledgements The Language Teaching On-Line project was supported by DG_XII of the European Commission. This article has been edited by the General Editor with permission from the authors. 144
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a view informed by the problems of traditional literacy in a digital age

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